


i'll be gone too long (from you)

by absopositivelutely



Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Light Angst, Pining, Volume 7 (RWBY), alternatively: an explanation for the lack of whiterose interaction in v7, not that weiss realizes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 09:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22847956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/absopositivelutely/pseuds/absopositivelutely
Summary: “I can’t,” Ruby says. A one-shouldered shrug, half of a smile. There are two sides to people, Weiss knows.“Okay,” Weiss says, softly; it sounds like a question, one that Ruby doesn’t hear. For a second Weiss thinks about following. She would follow Ruby anywhere, she knows.//(or; weiss and ruby in atlas)
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 8
Kudos: 163





	i'll be gone too long (from you)

**Author's Note:**

> yes this is just me, gathering whiterose crumbs. really hoping we get an explanation next volume for the lack of ruby and weiss content in v7, but if not, well. have this i guess.
> 
> title is from _canyon moon_ by harry styles, because i've been listening to it on repeat for the past month. 
> 
> hope you enjoy! :)

There is a pause before Ruby speaks, eyes flickering to the ground, to where Weiss’s heart has sunken.

“I can’t,” Ruby says, “I promised Penny I’d train with her.” A one-shouldered shrug, half of a smile. There are two sides to people, Weiss knows.

“Okay,” Weiss says, softly; it sounds like a question, one that Ruby doesn’t hear. She gives Weiss a wave before following Penny into the training room and for a second Weiss thinks about following. She would follow Ruby anywhere, she knows.

The halls of Atlas Academy remind her of home, high ceilings and too much space. She straightens her back, keeps her head lifted high; remembers her father’s voice, the biting cold of a blade slashing across her face. Ruby’s voice is always a low warmth but it feels like it has been burnt out.

“Hey, Weiss Cream,” Yang says when she walks into their dorm, cutting into her thoughts. She pretends to be annoyed and rolls her eyes. It pulls a smile out of her anyway. “Thought you were sparring with Ruby.”

“She’s training with Penny,” Weiss says. She doesn’t fail to notice the look that Yang exchanges with Blake. “Send me a message if she gets back before dinner.”

“Where are you going?” Blake asks, golden eyes too sharp, too knowing. Weiss thinks about the way her heart knocks against her ribs when she looks at Ruby, thinks about turning away, and wonders if Blake isn’t too different from her, in the end.

“Out,” Weiss says, putting her weapon away. “See you later.”

If Ruby were here, she would say _talk to me, Weiss,_ would say _you know we’re here for you._ Or maybe she wouldn’t. Ruby didn’t seem to be saying much to her, lately.

* * *

She knows it is probably wishful thinking, but being on Atlas makes her feel like the moon is in reach, like she can reach out and cup the silvery light in her hands. It filters in through the window of their dorm. Weiss doesn’t know why she’s awake but falls back into her old habits of going back to sleep easier, like she’d done back in Beacon. She stares at a patch of light on the wall and counts her breaths, keeping them in time with each of her teammates: Yang, on the top bunk further down; Blake, just through the divider at her feet; Ruby—

She listens closer. She knows Ruby, knows the way her breath catches when she sees the people she loves, the way her voice is cut through by ragged breaths after a fight, the way she steps up calmly to take her place as their leader, breathing in deeply before rallying them together. Weiss knows her and knows where she might have gone.

 _You should get some sleep_ is what Weiss wants to say. Instead, she steps out onto the balcony and says, “I’ve been trying to talk to you all day.”

“Hi,” Ruby says, voice small under her cloak. Weiss wants to reach out and tuck her hair behind her ear. Instead, she moves closer to Ruby, shoulder nudging against hers. Ruby’s eyes are bright in the moonlight, gaze meeting hers before she leans her head against Weiss’s shoulder. “I’m here now.”

“Are you okay?” Weiss asks, remembering Ruby sitting across from her in the library at Beacon after she’d gotten a call from her father, Ruby looping an arm around hers as they made their way through the rooms at Brunswick Farms. There is a shadow cast across Ruby’s face, too dark to have been only from her hood. Weiss knows who put it there and swears she will see this war to the end, if not for Remnant then at least for Ruby. She feels Ruby shrug next to her and doesn’t know what else to say.

* * *

“You’re distracted,” Winter says, glyphs shimmering under Weiss’s feet. She goes down hard, her sister’s sword hovering above her neck. If she inhales too deeply, she thinks it might pierce her skin. “Weiss, talk to me.”

“At least let me up,” she says, scowling up at her. Winter’s fingers are cold against her forearm, her grip somehow strong and gentle at the same time. She thinks it is exactly what Winter is like. “I’m just warming up. Let’s go again.”

Winter looks at her, her gaze unreadable as always. She sheaths her sword and shakes her head. “No. Let’s walk.”

“What?” Weiss demands, but follows her sister anyway. Across the room, a familiar blur of rose petals whips around a corner, and Weiss wishes she was at her side. “Winter. Where are we going?”

“You know I don’t have a lot of friends I can trust,” Winter says as she holds the door open for Weiss, ignoring her question. “Not like you do.”

“Okay,” Weiss says, slowly. She catalogs her sister’s features; sharp cheekbones, hair pulled back neatly, dark circles cut under her eyes. Atlas, it seems, is not kind in the way Vale was to her.

“I’m not looking for pity,” Winter adds, head turned slightly so she can fix her gaze on Weiss, two steps behind her. “I’m telling you this because I think you need to keep the friends—the family—you do have.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Weiss says. It isn’t quite a plea for help but Winter sees it for what it is.

“Be there for them,” Winter says. “More than our family was for us. More than I was for you.”

She looks up at her sister. Winter has always been there for her when nobody else in their life was, a marble pillar to lean on when she needed it. It occurs to her that she never learned to ask for more, instead picking up what Winter couldn’t hold.

She thinks Ruby might not be asking either.

* * *

Weiss wakes up when the door swings open. There is a shuffling of footsteps and she squints at the silhouette of the person who has just entered the room, though she knows who it is. She sits up slowly, movements deliberate, trying her best not to startle Ruby.

“Did I wake you up?” Ruby whispers, suddenly standing by Weiss’s side, rose petals settling in her wake. Her hand reaches out towards Weiss; for what, Weiss doesn’t know. It remains in the air between them before Weiss takes in a breath and slides her fingers between Ruby’s.

“Yes, but it’s okay,” Weiss says, squeezing Ruby’s hand lightly. “What do you need?”

She looks surprised at that, eyes sweeping across Weiss’s face before she finds the words to respond. “Could I…stay here?”

“In Atlas?” Weiss asks, confused. Ruby lets out a quiet laugh into the space between them.

“No, _here,”_ Ruby emphasizes, “um, with you. I’ll leave before the others wake up.”

“Oh,” Weiss says; Ruby’s bottom lip is caught between her teeth and she looks away before she thinks too much about it. “Okay.”

Ruby curls up next to her, so close Weiss can feel warmth emanating from her. She rolls over so her back is to Weiss before she speaks up again. “I guess I’m just…scared,” she says softly. “And I feel like I shouldn’t be, because I’m supposed to be team leader and everything.”

 _“Ruby,”_ Weiss breathes, and curls a hand around Ruby’s shoulder. Ruby presses back so her head is tucked under Weiss’s chin. Her hair smells like roses and sweat; she thinks Ruby loves like she fights, with an unwavering ferocity that Weiss could never compete with.

* * *

Ruby is brilliant in moments like these, telling a story about the Grimm they’d encountered on today’s mission over their dinner. She sweeps her hands out in a wide gesture and Weiss catches her wrist with an easy familiarity. Ruby shoots Weiss a smile, some unnamed emotion pooling in her eyes before she turns back to Blake and Yang. Weiss watches her, wanting this image of her seared into her memory: windswept hair, tired, bright eyes, her laugh a high, clear note. Weiss looks down and remembers that she is still holding Ruby’s hand.

“Sorry for almost hitting you in the face,” Ruby murmurs, grip tightening briefly before slipping her fingers out of Weiss’s. It sounds like there is more she wants to say but Weiss doesn’t know quite what it is.

Ruby doesn’t look at her for the rest of dinner, talking animatedly with Blake and Yang. It is painfully normal, except it isn’t. Weiss thinks it is strange how she can miss someone who is sitting right next to her.

She thinks of Ruby slipping out of her bed as the sunrise breaks through the window, of Ruby whispering that she wishes she was stronger, braver, better. Weiss remembers her first weeks at Beacon, unwilling to fight at Ruby’s side, insisting that she could handle it on her own; Ruby had taught her that they were better together than alone. She thinks that Ruby could use a reminder of that.

* * *

This time, Weiss waits for her.

“I know you’re awake,” she says, quietly. Ruby sighs, a soft huff of air, before dropping almost soundlessly from her bunk, landing in a crouch. She hesitates before slipping into Weiss’s bed. They are facing each other and Weiss can feel Ruby’s breath on her lips.

“You’re upset,” Ruby whispers. “At me.”

“You won’t talk to me,” Weiss says. Ruby’s eyes are molten silver, liquid moonlight. “I feel like I’m losing you.” The bed is cold when she wakes up every morning, she thinks, but doesn’t say.

“You’re _not,”_ Ruby says, voice rough, and Weiss realizes she has been crying. “Weiss. I couldn’t.”

“Then—”

“I don’t want everyone to think I’m a failure of a leader,” Ruby says, and bites back a sob. It knocks the air out of Weiss’s chest. “Because I told you I don’t—I have no idea what I’m doing, Weiss, and I’m still pretending I do, but you know I don’t and you probably think—”

“I think you’re brave,” Weiss murmurs, shifting closer. Her forehead is pressed against Ruby’s and her breath catches in her throat when Ruby blinks up at her, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Weiss reaches up and takes Ruby’s hand in hers, pressing Ruby’s knuckles to her lips. She tastes like salt and too-quiet nights, like loneliness, like a vague yearning for something more. “We need you,” _I need you,_ Weiss wants to say, “and you’re allowed to need us too.”

“Weiss,” Ruby says, breathlessly. Weiss slips an arm over her, Ruby’s body warm and trembling against hers. There are two sides to people, Weiss remembers. There is the Ruby that everyone knows, putting on a brave face for her team as she leads them through their missions. This is the Ruby that Weiss gets to herself, small and honest in her arms.

* * *

Ruby goes down hard, Salem’s shadow looking down on her. Weiss watches her curl into Yang’s side, sees Blake kneeling next to her, and cannot bring herself to move. She should be there, she thinks, wants to hear Ruby’s heartbeat, steady under her fingertips. Instead she is caught where she stands.

She thinks of the Ruby she holds at night, fighting back tears against her chest, and tries to reconcile it with the Ruby who rallies her team, standing up against Salem herself. It feels wrong, like Ruby has just lost a battle in a war that has been going on for—well. Weiss doesn’t know how long. She wonders just how much of it she was there for; pictures sobs taking Ruby apart on a balcony alone, and thinks, again, that she should be on the floor with her.

Ruby might be the strongest person Weiss knows.

* * *

Time is a circle, Weiss thinks. They are back where they began, on a stolen airship hanging precariously in the sky. She looks out the window and sees her home laid out beneath them, lights shining brightly in the face of darkness. Across from Penny, Ruby’s eyes are radiant in the dim light, and she offers Weiss a small smile before closing her eyes and leaning against Penny’s shoulder.

On her side, Weiss does the same, winning a surprised, but grateful look from Penny. They have never been very close but she knows Penny loves Ruby and Winter in her own way, solid and certain. She meets Penny’s gaze and thinks that they both have that in common.

Weiss remembers the days Ruby spent with Penny in the training room; the night she’d walked into the dorm to find Ruby with her head on Yang’s lap, her sister’s fingers carding through dark hair; Blake on her knees next to Ruby as she chokes out a sob, eyes flashing silver.

Penny gets up to talk to Maria, and Ruby scoots closer. She tucks her head between Weiss’s neck and shoulder, like she belongs there.

“Sorry I couldn’t be there for you all the time,” Weiss murmurs. “I’m glad you have everyone else there for you too, though.”

“Same goes to you,” Ruby says, breath warm against Weiss’s skin. “And it’s okay. I always come back to you, don’t I?”

Weiss thinks of almost every night since they’d arrived in Atlas, Ruby warm and pressed against her chest. She nods, nose buried in Ruby’s hair. She smells the sharp bite of blood, and sweat, and fear; there is also, somehow, the clean scent of roses, the night air, and love.

“Go to sleep, Weiss,” Ruby whispers.

Salem is approaching. But Weiss looks around the airship; Penny is standing by Maria, absorbed in quiet conversation; Blake is curled up against Yang, both of them asleep; Jaune, Nora, and Ren, are leaning against each other, muscles tensed but eyes closed. She doesn’t know what they will have to face next but she takes this moment and holds it close to her heart.

“Only if you stay here until I wake up,” Weiss says.

“There’s nowhere else to go,” Ruby says, and smiles so brightly Weiss believes that she could save the world.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments always appreciated :) 
> 
> find me on [tumblr](https://qwowo.tumblr.com/)!


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